Ad Noctum
by Sly Zucchini
Summary: Marauders' Era Hogwarts: Sixth-Years James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter deal with Life, Love, and the trials of Growing Up. (Ad Noctum Latin: Into the Night.)
1. Pillow Talk

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CHAPTER ONE.

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James Potter was having a bad dream. It was a surprisingly stormy night for so early in the Fall, and the thunder rumbled loudly just outside the window. James twitched restlessly, and mumbled groggy sounds into his pillow. A particularly loud thunderclap hit, followed by a spectacular jolt of lightning, and he shot up in bed, gasping loudly for breath.

"Alright, mate?" A young man with tousled black hair sat up sleepily in the bed nearest to James'. He rubbed the back of his neck and pushed away the locks of hair swinging over his deep brown eyes.

James swung his legs over the side of his four-poster and stared out the window. 

"Yeah. G'back to sleep, Paddy." He attempted to smile convincingly at his half-sleeping friend. 

Instead of laying back down, the boy rubbed his eyes and slid off of his bed. He sat down next to James and studied him for a moment, a sort of amused look dancing over his dark features. 

"Bad dream, Prongs, old boy? _Couldn't've_ been about… a certain _GIRL_, eh?" He grinned.

James snorted and opened his mouth to tell Sirius to go back to bed again, but the boy kept at it.

"Was she in mortal peril??" He put on an expression of feigned horror. "Did you fail in some noble quest to save her from a dreaded fate worse than death??"

"Look, Sirius, can't you just -- "

"Ooh, or did ickle Jamesie get turned down-- AGAIN?" Sirius wrinkled his nose and laughed.

James had to laugh, too. Sirius had such a strange manner about him -- he was irritatingly charming, and he had a way of making a person feel at ease. If anyone else had been teasing James like this, he likely would've clouted them. But Sirius…

A muffled groan came softly from the four-poster across from James'. 

Sirius sat up very straight and looked at James with a solemn expression. James could see he was trying hard to keep from laughing again.

"Now you've done it." James said. He reached over to his night table to pick up his glasses. "You've awoken the sleeping beast." He adjusted the glasses over his hazel eyes and gave Sirius a wry smile.

Sirius' handsome face broke into a devilish grin as he got up and tip-toed quietly over to the other bed. He carefully pulled one of the pillows up from underneath the sleeping form, and he winked at James as he raised it over his head. 

**__**

--WHAM--

The pillow came down upon the bed's occupant with such force that feathers burst out from the seams and rained down upon the boys. 

Remus Lupin yelped loudly and jumped up, knocking his head on one of the wood posts of the bed. Sirius could no longer contain his malicious glee; he threw back his head and burst into loud howls of laughter.

"For Godsakes, Sirius!" James acted as though he was very upset and donned a very high-pitched voice. "Must you wake the whole school??" 

Sirius paused for a moment and pretended to consider this. 

"You're right, Potter. Hate to have Gilbert-the-Git wake up." He kept a straight face for a split second and then dissolved into laughter again. 

James laughed, too. Gilbert Alfred Schlecter _the Thirteenth_ was a Griffindor prefect, but a bossy prat. He was constantly badgering James and his friends about their mischief-making, and nagging them about losing House points.

A new voice suddenly spoke up: a very sleepy voice that could barely be understood for all the yawning.

"Wh -- whut're you doing, Sirius? Whus'so fu-- fu-- funny?"

A very mousy-looking boy with thick, dirty blond hair sat up in his four-poster next to Remus'. He had a round, pleasant face, and he smiled very sleepily as he tried to cover another enormous yawn with a pale hand. To his left, the boy called Remus was still rubbing his sore head. 

"Ah, Petey! Smashing of you to join us! And I say, what good timing you have! I was just about to suggest that Moony here go ahead and wake you. If one of us can't sleep, well, the others jolly well shouldn't either!" Sirius put on his most charming face. 

The boy rubbing his head looked up at Sirius. His hair was a very light shade of brown, and it curled slightly at the ends as it fell across his face, swaying freely in front of his brilliant, amber-colored eyes. He scowled slightly, and asked, "What's wrong _THIS_ time, Padfoot? Shall I fetch you a chew toy? Perhaps have James scratch your tummy until you can sleep again?" At this last comment, the corners of his mouth began to turn up. 

Sirius turned and looked at Remus. 

"Whatever are you going on about, Moony? It's _James _here that can't sleep." He turned up his nose and smiled very smugly.

James felt himself go very pink as the three other boys turned and looked at him. 

"Oh, come off it, Sirius. It was just that bloody storm; the thunder woke me, y'know?" He stared out the window again.

"He was having a bad dream about _Evans_." Sirius stated matter-of-factly as he lowered himself onto the edge of Remus' mattress.

The blond boy climbed down off his bed and sat down next to Sirius. 

"Oh _REALLY_?" He asked, smiling slyly at the back of James' head. 

Remus sat up as well. He looked from James to Peter, then to Sirius. Even in the dark, the gleam in Sirius' eyes was unmistakable.

"Come now, Prongs, you can tell us! We are, after all, your best mates!" 

James turned slightly, his mouth half-open as though he was about to say something, but then thought better of it. He reached up and ruffled his jet-black hair.

"Nah, go back to bed." He looked back at them. "I mean it-- the lot of you!"

Sirius' grin only broadened. 

"I'm _hurt_ that you won't even trust your own friends, James! Really, I thought we meant more to you than that."

"That's right!" Peter chirped after him. "And as our fellow Marauder, it's your duty to be completely honest with us."

James looked pleadingly at Remus. He was always the most level-headed of the group; surely _he_ could see that James wasn't in the mood for playing around?

Remus laughed and shook his head. 

"Sorry, mate. Now I'm curious, too." 

James sighed and fiddled idly with a string dangling from his pajama sleeve. 

"It wasn't anything. It was just a dream."

"Yes, yes, we've been over this part already," Sirius said impatiently. "What were you dreaming about? It was obviously something important enough to wake you from a VERY deep sleep, Prongs; I know because I could hear you snoring before." He grinned very cheekily. 

"I don't sn--" James began indignantly.

"Only kidding, Mr. Potter. Please continue."

James looked back at his three best friends, all of whom were staring intently at him. He ran his hand through his hair again.

"It was stupid, really. One of those random, jumbled dreams, y'know? I guess it was all those butterbeers we snuck back, eh, Sirius?" He paused and smiled at the other boy.

"Well anyway, it was about Lily, I guess. I can't remember how it all started. I just remember being in somebody's house with a load of other people; a party, I think. Professor Dumbledore was there, and my parents, and come to think of it, Sirius, your mum, she was there, too."

"_My_ mum? You're joking; she wouldn't be caught dead anywhere with any..." Sirius assumed a very shrill female voice, "...FILTHY MUGGLE-LOVING BLOOD-TRAITORS!" He laughed sourly. 

"Yeah, weird, I know." James went on. "Anyway, we were all there, and then Lily, she suddenly appears out of nowhere and runs up to me. And she's upset, y'know? Frantic-like." James made motions in the air with his hands. 

"She kept trying to tell me something: something really important, I think. But she couldn't get any words out. And the harder she tried to speak, the more it seemed... it..." his voice started to trail off. "...it seemed to hurt her."

The three boys on the other bed were far too shocked at their friend's complete openness to tease him about getting soft over a girl. James cleared his throat and continued.

"There was a load of green light, all over everything. And I _tried_ to tell her to run... I kept shouting at her, 'Lily, you've got to get out of here!' And she _couldn't. _ She couldn't move and she couldn't talk... and I couldn't do a bloody thing but stand there and shout at her." He put a hand to his head and glanced over at his friends. 

"That isn't the worst of it though. It was so dark, and she was so afraid -- _I_ was so afraid--" he gulped. "And I kept shouting, and then everyone else started up. Everybody was shouting at her, and something about it just made me so angry, I… I raised my hand to hit her."

Remus drew in a sharp breath. Sirius let out a low whistle. Peter just stared, open-mouthed.

James looked up guiltily. 

"I know, I can't explain it. It was a dream, and I couldn't do anything about it."

"So, you did, then?" Remus asked cautiously. "You... _hit_ her?" 

"No! No, of course not!" James exclaimed. "Well... at least, I don't think I did... that was when I woke up."

He looked pleadingly to his friends. 

"But I wouldn't hit her in real life, ever; I'm not like that! You know that, don't you?"

Sirius spoke up quickly. 

"Of course, Prongs. It was just a dream, after all." His tone was different somehow, and he glanced at Remus for a fleeting instant.

Remus stared at his feet numbly. He had a horrible, sick feeling in his gut, and for some reason, he just didn't feel like talking anymore. Sirius, seeing this, tried to lighten the mood.

"Yes, well, I think this dream of yours can only mean one thing." He wore another very solemn expression.

"What?" Asked James hurriedly. "What do you think it means?"

Sirius drew in a very deep breath, as though what he was about to say held the weight of the world in its context. 

"It means you're nutters, mate." He kept a poker face and nodded firmly at James.

There were a few seconds of utter silence before they burst into laughter. 

James removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes as his laughter subsided. 

"Well I'm very glad I can count on my friends for reassurance." 

"Oh, come on, James; it's like Sirius said. It was just a dream." Peter sighed. "It isn't as though you've automatically morphed into some ruddy sadist who runs about beating his women."

Sirius snickered. "Or maybe the problem is that she _isn't_ his woman?"

James shot him a dirty look.

Finally Remus spoke up. 

"Look," he pointed to the clock on James' nightstand, "It's four o'clock in the morning. And we have double Potions first thing today. I'm going back to sleep."

He started to stand up, and then realized that he was already on his bed. And that Sirius and Peter were on it, too.

"Geroff, you two!" Remus swatted at them with his pillow. Then he looked up at James and grinned. 

"I can't believe you woke us all up just to hear about a stupid dream."

"**_I _**woke you up??!!" James picked up his own pillow, laughing, and held it up as if to clout him with it.

"Now James, you must learn to take responsibility for your own actions. Cause and effect, you know." Sirius stood up and patted him patronizingly. 

"Ah, too right you are, Sirius." James replied politely. "I wonder, please, if could you tell me what effect _this_ will bring about?" 

And with that he swung his pillow as hard as he could at Sirius, and the mayhem began. 

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It was not until over an hour later, as the boys lay completely exhausted, sprawled across Remus' bed, that the dormitory was even remotely quiet again.

Sirius groaned and blew his long hair out of his eyes. 

"I dunno, Moony, I think that last hit of yours broke my jaw."

Remus raised an eyebrow. 

"It was a pillow, Padfoot. Y'know, those fluffy things filled with _feathers?_" He grinned.

"Not anymore, they're not." Peter motioned to the floor.

James peered over the end of the bed and laughed. It was as though Winter had come early to Griffindor Tower. Every last inch of the floor in their circular dormitory was covered in a thick blanket of tiny, white feathers. 

"Brilliant, mates! It's just like Christmas!" He rolled over onto his stomach and closed his eyes.

"Well, it isn't my turn to clean it up. I had to take care of all those Dungbombs yesterday, and as you'll all kindly remember, the teachers don't allow the use of magic during detention."

Sirius yawned.

"S'not my turn, either. I cleaned up that nasty spill in the Potions storeroom last week, and that lot smelled worse than ol' _Snivellus_, it did."

"Oh, shut up, Sirius. You had to clean it up because you were the one that knocked the cupboard over in the first place." James said sleepily. "Just forget it; I'll clean it up..." his breathing began to slow, "...clean it up... first thing... tomorrow...."

But there was no reply from Sirius, or indeed, from _any_ of the boys. They were all fast asleep.


	2. Breakfast to Go

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CHAPTER TWO. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

The usual cheerful buzz greeted the Marauders as they trudged down to the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. It was the first day of the second week of school, and all along the House tables, students were talking and laughing and eating, oblivious to the four disheveled young men who had just walked in nearly half an hour after everyone else. Sirius, Remus, and Peter situated themselves at the end of the Gryffindor table, and James, after having sleepily scanned the row for a flash of auburn hair, seated himself across from them. 

It was apparent to anyone who watched them that something was "off" this particular morning. Remus had a hand pressed to his forehead, his eyelids drooping incessantly as he attempted to read the Daily Prophet. Sirius, though giving it a valiant effort, could not seem to direct a single bite of oatmeal into his mouth. Peter was chewing his toast more slowly than one would have thought humanly possible, and was stiring the pot of marmalade instead of his tea, while James was out cold right there at the table, his face planted squarely in the middle of his plate. 

"What on Earth happened to you four?" A familiar female voice spoke up from behind James. 

Remus, who had by this time just about given up trying to read, struggled to pry open one eye as he faintly uttered a greeting in acknowledgement. Sirius looked up at her hazily through the dark hair swinging in his face and mumbled a quick, "H'lo Lily," before turning his attention back to his breakfast and staring intensely (or rather, as intensely as one who has gotten no sleep is able...) at the spoon in his hand, as if by doing so, he could will the now-cold mush to jump down his throat. Peter, who was far too tired to remember to swallow, had a mouthful of toast, and could only nod his head at the young woman standing in front of them. And James was i_still/i_ asleep.

The girl put one hand on her hip and stared at the boys. She was quite attractive: standing there, holding an enormous load of books, her long auburn hair cascading over her shoulders -- and her eyes were a brilliant shade of green. Her mouth was twitching slightly, as if she didn't know whether to grin or scowl at them. 

Suddenly, James began to stir. He slowly lifted his head and looked up groggily at Sirius and Remus, who staring stupidly at him. Remus coughed deliberately and motioned to the side of his own face. Sirius stifled a laugh.

Lily jumped, startled. 

"Oh! James, I didn't realize you were there." She said awkwardly, speaking to the back of his head. 

James, who had only just realized that he was no longer in the dormitory, jumped as well. 

"Lily?" He whirled around, running his hand through his mess of hair as he did so. "Good morn-- What?"

"Um," she began, staring at him wide-eyed, "Yes. You... I, um..." She fumbled with the books in her hands, and the corners of her mouth were now twitching violently as she, too, fought to hold back a laugh.

James gaped at her. 

"Are you alright, Lily?" He asked worriedly. "You're looking a bit pale -- d'you need me to take you to the hospital wing?"

Lily bit her lip, trying desperately not to look past him. Unbeknownst to James, just behind him, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were doubled over with silent laughter at his expense. She finally managed to regain some composure, and she shook her head.

"No, but thank you, James. I just… you've got… um…" Unsure of how to go about what she needed to say, Lily accidentally glanced back at Sirius, who had formed his hands into O-shaped glasses around his eyes and was mimicking the oblivious James in a surprisingly accurate manner. 

She made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a snort, and as she backed away, spoke so quickly that it seemed to be in one breath.

"Err, nevermind, I've-just-remembered-that-I-promised-Miranda-that-I'd-meet-her-in-the-library-before-Potions-but-thanks-anyway-I've-got-to-go-see-you-in-class-then-bye!" 

And she hurried off, leaving an utterly confused James Potter staring wistfully after her. 

By the time James turned back around, the other three Marauders appeared to be eating their breakfasts again, perfectly normal and pleasantly unaware of the scene that had just transpired between their best friend and his would-be girl. 

"Well that was... different..." James began uncertainly as he picked up his fork. "What d'you suppose her deal is?"

Sirius looked up innocently. 

"Well, it's probably just that you look so particularly handsome this morning."

James turned slightly pink, astonished at Sirius' response. 

"I-- I do?" He reached up and mussed his hair again. "I didn't do anything different today, I don't think..."

Sirius caught Peter's eye and winked. 

"Yeah, Prongs, I can't quite put my finger on it. There's just something about you this morning." He scratched his chin as though contemplating.

Peter caught on quickly.

"Maybe your tie?" He put in helpfully. "It's a i_very/i_ nice tie, I think."

James looked down at his red and gold Gryffindor tie, then raised an eyebrow.

"I wear this exact same tie all the time, Peter."

Peter only grinned.

"No, no, it's not the tie," said Sirius. "I think it's really something about... your i_face_./i"

"My face_?_" James repeated.

Remus put down his paper and glanced at Peter and Sirius, both of whom were scant seconds away from exploding with glee. He sighed and picked up his spoon.

i"_Enlargae,_"/i he muttered, pointing his wand at it. 

The cup of the spoon flattened out and expanded until it looked as though Remus was holding up a thin, hand-held mirror. 

"Your i_face/i,_ James," he said pointedly, holding the spoon so his friend could see himself in it. "Breakfast and all."

James stared at his reflection in shock. Yellow bits of egg were smeared across his cheeks, with jam and bread crumbs everywhere in between. Even his glasses, he realized, had red raspberry smear-marks on them. He looked up furiously at Sirius and Peter, who were positively shaking with laughter, and let out a stream of profanity that he most certainly did not learn at Hogwarts.

"Aww take it easy, mate," Sirius began, "It was just a spot of fun."

"If Lily never speaks to me again, I swear on Godric Gryffindor, I'll take you by your --" James made several very graphically violent motions in the air.

Remus interrupted.

"Look, James, maybe you ought to clean yourself up before you, I dunno, cause a scene or something?" 

James looked around to see nearly everyone in the Great Hall was staring at them and laughing. 

"Damnit," he said, as he took out his own wand and pointed it at his face.

"Err, maybe I better do it," Remus added quickly. "You're sort of in a rotten mood, and we wouldn't want you to accidentally blow your own head off." 

James sighed miserably and nodded as he slipped his wand back into the pocket of his robe. 

i"_Scourgify,"/i _said Remus, and the mess vanished. 

"There now, Prongs! Good as new!" Sirius said jovially. "And I wouldn't worry too much about Lily; she seemed to think it was highly amusing."

Peter snickered and James scowled at him.

"Yeah, very amusing," he muttered sarcastically, finishing up the last bit of his toast. 

"Look on the bright side, James! It took your mind off that stupid dream of yours, didn't it?" Peter asked. 

James' anger vanished. He turned and glanced back at the door behind him, where Lily had exited just moments earlier. 

"You know," he said slowly, turning around again. "You're right. It was just a dream, after all." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "I can't even remember why I was so worked up over it last night."

"This morning, you mean." Remus laughed. "Honestly, I could probably sleep through Potions."

Sirius gasped mockingly. 

"Remus Lupin? Skive off classes? What _is_ the world coming to?"

"Ah, speaking of classes," Peter interrupted, "I reckon we'd better head off soon."

James groaned and picked up his books. 

"It just had to be Potions first thing today, didn't it?"

Sirius clapped a hand to his shoulder and grinned. James was notoriously bad at potion-mixing.

"Not to worry, mate. We're here for you."

Remus took to his other side. 

"That's right. It'll all be over soon."

The three boys laughed as they began to walk towards the doors.

"Wait up!" Peter cried, pausing to take one last sip of tea. He gulped down the contents of his cup and stopped, his face screwing up as he stared incredulously into the pot in his hand. 

i"_Marmalade???_"/i

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"...And then I added the bat wing too early -- it was a disaster!" James laughed as they recounted the morning classes on the way back to the Common Room that afternoon.

Sirius punched James on the shoulder teasingly.

"I think the real disaster was Lily ignoring you."

"Yeah, maybe she thinks being your friend might put her in a JAM." Peter chuckled.

The other three boys stopped walking and stared at him.

"That was really terrible, Peter." Remus said.

"Your worst yet, I'd say." Sirius nodded.

Peter stopped chuckling, and they continued on their way.

Suddenly, they began to hear loud voices echoing from down the corridor, and it wasn't long before the Marauders came upon a large group of students crowded around one of the windows, laughing raucously.

Sirius pulled one of the boys' collar.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, that new teacher, i'_Purfoi'/i _or however he says it... He's gotten into a bit of a spat with Professor Kettleburn over whose class had permission to use the Forbidden Forest today. You know how ol' Kettle gets "steamed up" about these things." The boy grinned.

James craned his neck over the crowd and peered out the window. Just below, two men were engaged in a clearly hostile conversation.

The first was rather short and plump; his bald head was gleaming in the afternoon sun. He was shouting in a gruff voice and waving a stump of an arm around in the air. James laughed.

"What d'you suppose they'll do when Kettleburn loses the other three limbs?" He joked.

Sirius chuckled. 

"Hire a new Care of Magical Creatures teacher, I suppose! i_Dangerous/i_ job, that." He winked at Peter. Care of Magical Creatures was one of Peter's favorite classes.

Everyone laughed. 

Remus looked out at the other teacher. This Professor Purfoi of theirs was a very noble-looking man: tall, with long silvery-blonde hair. He had a thin face with high cheekbones, and startling blue eyes. He stood calmly as Professor Kettleburn talked himself blue in the face, nodding politely and trying to avoid making a bigger scene than they had already.

__

i"And yeh' had NO right, I'm tellin' yeh, NO right, to bring yer' students out this mornin'! Any teacher knows that the Forest has to be reserved by--"

"I'm terribly sorry, Professor Kettleburn, but you see, I've only just arrived this past week. I was unaware of the policy regarding the Forbidden Forest--"

"Yeh' disrupted my class and yeh' frightened the Unicorns, and--"/i

On and on they went, unaware of the crowd they were drawing. The students always enjoyed watching Professor Kettleburn give someone a talking-to, and because in this instance, that "someone" was a new teacher, it was all the more entertaining. The halls shook with laughter as helpless Professor Purfoi had his ears chewed off by "Full-of-Hot-Air" Kettleburn and his incredible, waving stump. 

"Poor bloke," Sirius sympathized, "He never stood a chance."

And yet, Remus noted, he i_did/i _stand a chance. Remus suddenly felt a great swell of admiration for this new Professor. Even the biggest and proudest of the students had broken under the wrath of Professor Kettleburn, and here, right in front of their very eyes, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was not only replying in pleasant tones, but he was actually smiling -- in an polite sort of way. 

A loud voice suddenly broke through the laughter. 

"Alright, alright, back to the common rooms, everyone. Nothing more to see."

The speaker was a pale, sallow-skinned young man with a very pinched face and a very shiny, newly polished Prefect badge pinned to the front of his robes. He moved on, dispersing the crowd and waving students away from the window. 

"Come on, Gilbert! What's the rush?" James smirked.

"Move it along, Potter; we wouldn't want to lose any points from Gryffindor, would we?" He spread his lips to reveal large, pointed teeth, which James supposed was a close as he could get to smiling. 

"Oi, James! You lot! Come look, I think Kettleburn's going to hex him!" Peter shouted from the window down the hall.

"Excellent!" Sirius laughed and started towards them. "Aren't you coming, Moony?" He looked back at Remus.

"Err, actually, I think I'll just head back to the Common Room. I need to start on that essay McGonagall assigned."

His friend stared at him.

"Is everything okay?" Sirius asked.

Remus nodded quickly. 

"Yeah, 'course. I just want to get a head start, that's all."

Sirius shrugged. 

"Suit yourself." He ran off down the hall.


End file.
